Angel Glacier & Mt Robson Provincial Park

Angel Glacier

This morning the skies finally cleared so we were excited to go exploring and maybe take some nice photos this time. Our first target is one of Jasper's true highlights, Angel Glacier. It is hammered by tourists in summer so we made sure we were there bright and early to beat the crowds. There was only a handful of cars in the car park when we got there so we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

A note of interest. Angel Glacier as recently as 20 years ago ran all the way to the bottom of the cliff in the photos above, and into the rock pile at the bottom. I'm not sure what's causing global warming (I have some pretty strong views on it) but there's no denying that it is real. All the glaciers in Canada and Alaska are receding at an alarming rate and this one is a prime example.

The setting is quite surreal. There's next to no vegetation due to the elevation & the recent presence of a rapidly receding glacier. To add to that there's the impressive Angel Glacier (above), Mount Edith Cavell & Cavell Glacier (above) and a small berg filled lake.

Angel Glacier is one of those magical places in Western Canada that you never stop raving about. As is the case with many of the truly spectacular places around here, no photo can possibly give you a full appreciation of the the place.

We have found this summer that you can't go too far in the mountains where there's scree slopes (rock slides) without seeing one of these guys. I near tripped over them on 3 different occasions during the weekend.

Decending along the road from Angel Glacier, there is a lookout which has some nice views over the Tonquin Valley (above). There is a lengthy overnight hiking trail that follows the valley.

Portal Lake

After our successful Angel Glacier visit, we stopped back in Jasper for a quick bite & then took the main highway west into B.C. as we did last time when the weather was rubbish. It was much improved this time allowing us to see all kinds of beautiful scenery. Portal Lake (above) sits almost mocking Alberta just on the B.C. side of the border. It's only little, but it's quite pretty. It even has water lilies (foreground).

Moose Marsh

Moose Marsh is a beautiful area about half way to Mt Robson. It's prime moose country, but because it's called "Moose" Marsh, there's not even a sign of moose. It could be because of the pipeline construction project along the road at the moment, but I'm sticking to my story.

Moose Lake

Moose Lake is adjacent to Moose Marsh & also has no moose.

Mount Robson

Ah HA! Mount Robson on a clear day! It was a vast improvement in scenery to the previous dreary wet trip to the area last time.

It's quite the impressive mountain and so it should be considering it is the tallest point in the Canadian Rockies (3,954 m).

This photo, or a slight variation to it, is on every other fridge magnet & postcard in the Jasper area. We wanted one of our own.

Rearguard Falls

The short trail down to Rearguard Falls was closed for maintenance last time we were there. Not this time & the weather was clear as well. The thing that caught my eye was the shear volume of water running over the falls. The power of the water was quite mesmerizing.

Talbot Lake

The cloud came back as the afternoon progressed, and that's pretty much par for the course in the mountains. We drove east from Jasper late in the afternoon but were probably pushing our luck. We went as far as Talbot Lake (above) before we turned around and called it a day.

 

Sumit Lakes & Geraldine Lake

Today the rain had backed off a bit but so we went for a hike to Lower Summit Lake. The hike starts from the southern end of Medicine Lake & runs between two saw toothed ranges. About a mile in you come to Beaver Lake (above). It's surprisingly peaceful place considering how accessible it is. Of course there are no beavers in the lake because it's called "Beaver" Lake. The Rocky Mountain parks are odd. If you can drive to it with less than a kilometre of walk, it's loaded with tourists. Anything slightly further is nice & peaceful.

 We saw a ptarmigan foraging beside the trail in full dark summer colours. He was going about his business with little regard for our intrusion.

More wild flowers. This one is an Indian Paintbrush.

The target of our first walk for the day was First Summit Lake (above). The trail continues to Second Summit Lake, Jacques Lake & then beyond. If you're really keen, you can continue to follow the "South Boundary Trail" the 165kms to the Banff/Jasper National park boundary on the Icefields Parkway. We weren't that keen to go past First Summit Lake. It's quite the nice setting but it must be much nicer with clear blue skies. The best part about the hike was the fact that it was just under 5 kms each way along a relatively flat trail.

On the way back to Jasper from the Summit Lake trail we drove alongside Medicine Lake (above). I just had to stop. The lake was dead calm & the reflections of the surrounding ranges... well, you be the judge (despite the cloudy weather). We've been to Medicine Lake a number of times & it has looked like a different lake every time.

After lunch, we set off on another hike to 1st Geraldine Lake (above). Our trail guide book lead us to believe it was a fairly short, moderately easy hike. Not the case. It was quite steep and the path was muddy & hacked up for most of the way to the lake. The lake was nice enough with a water fall at the far end. Unfortunately we were both a bit grumpy from the hike & it took the edge off the scenery a bit. The lake was surprisingly clear and was alive with some big trout.

For some reason we persisted with even more difficult terrain along the lake shore to the Water Fall at the far end. We did get there in the end & took a few average photos. Needless to say we were very glad to be back at the car an hour or so later. Was it worth it?.... Not so sure. The mountains have spoiled us so we're starting to get a bit hard to please.

Jasper Animals

It is a four day long weekend this weekend and we're back in Jasper. The drive up along the Icefields Parkway was marred by torrential rain and it wasn't much better in Jasper when we arrived. The skies may be a bit grey but we're otherwise excited to be back.
Having covered much of the area close to Jasper and to the west,we drove out east toward Hinton to explore something new. The main road twists through the lake riddled valley which makes for a nice scenic drive in itself. About half an hour from Jasper, we turned up the Miette road that is the acess for Miette Hot Springs. Everything was lush and green in the valley.

We did see a black bear at one of the campsites along the way. What a surprise! We hardly ever see black bears during our travels in Western Canada!
Anyway, this healthy young bear was going about his business stripping the forest of berries. He was right at the entrance to the Pocahontas campground but that didn't seem to deter him.

We saw a couple of deer toward the end of the day, but I think the traffic volume due to the long weekend probably scared most of them off.

Maybe we'll get lucky with better weather tomorrow.

Fisgard Lighthouse

Today was our last day on V.I. We had the morning in Victoria to check out Fisgard Lighthouse before an afternoon flight back to Calgary.

The Fisgard Lighthouse site is situated about 20 mins drive west of Victoria Harbour. It isn't just a lighthouse, itis also an historical site containing WWII battlements.

There's plenty of war memorabilia around the site.

The views from some of the bunkers and battlements are fantastic.

The lighthouse sits out on a peninsular separated from the military buildings.

Fisgard Lighthouse is well worth checking out if you are in Victoria.

We were able to get a direct flight from V.I. to Calgary, so there was no annoying stop over in Vancouver. The afternoon was clear so we were able to get a great look at the mountains all the way. Mt Barker was still watching us (pictured above).

Discovery Passage

Today was the second last day of our trip to V.I. We set off early from our hotel in Parksville & drove 130 kms north to Campbell River. It was a bit last minute but we'd booked ourselves on another whale watching cruise, this time into Discovery Passage. Discovery Passage is the narrowest section of water between V.I. & the mainland. There's a myriad of islands in the area as well. It was what I had actually come to V.I. for. The whales were always going to be a bonus. The scenery was awesome. There were no tourists to bug us, just the local wildlife.

The narrow waterway causes some extreme water movement. The tides run strong and boaties need to take great care in this treacherous stretch of water.

We hadn't even left the harbour at Campbell River before we'd seen our first Bald Eagle. Not far north of there, on Quadra Island, we spotted this pair in the tree. They looked very well fed & considering the abundance of salmon in the area, it wasn't exactly a ground breaking discovery. As we continued north, we saw many pairs perched in the trees scoping the water for fish. The Bald Eagles are easy to spot among the dark green spruce trees because they look like golf balls from a distance. Their white heads give them away. It's a big call, but I think we saw more bald eagles today than we did the whole time we were in Alaska, and there were heaps up there.

One of the other residents of Quadra Island is the Black Tailed deer. These are similar to the white tails on the mainland, but are endemic to Vancouver Island & some of the smaller islands in Discovery passage. They are much smaller than their mainland cousins. Bambi's mum in picture only stands about 3 ft at the shoulder. Their white tailed cousins are nearly double that full grown. Unfortunately for the deer, they are a prime snack for the many predators, particularly on Quadra Island. (You can see the doe looking up the hill for danger which was apparently more of a threat than us in the boat). Anything from eagles to wolves & cougars think that even the adults make great eating. The deer still seem to thrive.

Unfortunately the wind was blowing 30 knots plus by the time we weren't too far north. It made it nearly impossible to spot the orcas we had come to find. We could have driven right past them & not know it because of the white caps & spray. We persisted to a point but eventually when Discovery Passage changed into Johnstone Strait, the captain decided it wasn't worth the punishment or the risk to go any further. Instead we headed into a small port on the mainland called Port Neville. It's basically just a wharf, a post office & a bit of a museum. You'll notice an aluminium boat next to the wharf. That was our boat. It's kind of funny looking, but it really did a good job. We didn't get wet, we didn't get beaten up & it was deceptively quick!

We took a break from the battering in the boat & had a look around the old post office. Lorna, the lady who runs the post office, showed us around & was nice enough to tell us about the history of the place. It's now a mail hub for people living in the surrounding area on islands or inlets. The mail float plane comes 3 times a week (now that would be a cool mail run). After a spot of lunch we hopped back on the boat & headed back toward Campbell River.

Due to the lack of opportunity to spot whales, the back up plan was to go bear hunting. We saw three yesterday and were excited about seeing a few more and having an opportunity to catch them with the camera. We were in luck. The bears don't seem at all interested in boats & just go about their business normally. We ended up seeing 3 of them on the way back. They were all foraging on the shore, turning over rocks looking for various snacks.

The good thing about being in a boat is that you can get really close to the animals without disturbing them or having them attack you. Something to notice about the coastal black bears is that they are completely black. Their Albertan cousins we've seen usually have a brown face & a few white markings. As you can see, that's not the case with these guys.

The return trip to Campbell river was much more sedate. Aside from the frequent stops for wildlife, we were protected from the wind. We took a route between the islands closer to the mainland through some calmer waters & some spectacular scenery. The only unfinished business I have on V.I. is in the same area. In September & October you can take a trip with the same company (Discovery Marine Tours) across to an inlet on the mainland where the salmon run. The grizzlies line up, sometimes 15 at a time & fish for salmon. It will just give us an excuse to come back some other time.......